Book Review | John Phillips: Yorkshire’s Traveller Through Time
This book provides an affectionate description of the life and works of the 19th century geologist John Phillips, concentrating on his connections with Yorkshire and northern England. He is known internationally as the person who named the Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Cainozoic eras and, by those interested in UK Carboniferous geology, as the originator of the Yoredale Series. But this book goes a long way to promoting the incredibly broad range of his interests as inventor, talented artist, noted meteorologist and astronomer (with features on the Moon and Mars bearing his name).
The book is well illustrated throughout with modern photographs of the landscape visited and described by Phillips, plus images of the great man and his associates, and contemporary images relevant to his travels, including copies of some of Phillips’ excellent lithographs. These help make the book visually interesting, though for many of the landscape views the captions provide little explanation of their geological significance. In general the book avoids providing geological details, making it more accessible to a general readership.
The book is structured with each chapter dealing with specific key episodes in Phillips’ life. Though the chapters broadly follow a logical progression through his career, the narrative is not in strict chronological order. Consequently, certain events can be repeated between chapters and at times episodes from decades in the past or in the future can be introduced into the story. Provision, early in the book, of a simple table showing the dates of key stages in his career would have been beneficial.
Chapter 1 introduces the career of Phillips’ uncle, William “Strata” Smith, more widely known today in large part thanks to Simon Winchester’s book “The map that changed the World”. This chapter covers the misfortunate early childhood of Phillips and how Smith became his mentor,how they worked together developing the ground-breaking geological maps and the difficult circumstances that found both men initially moving to Yorkshire in 1819. It provides great detail about their remarkable journeys taken on foot across the north of England, for fieldwork and to lecture to the growing number of learned societies. One can only be impressed with their fortitude. The book only covers briefly the importance of Phillips’ sister, Anne, as his lifelong companion and colleague.
Chapter 2 deals with Phillips’ links with the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and as first keeper of the Yorkshire Museum in York from 1830. Chapter 4 covers his involvement as inaugural Assistant Secretary of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1831, raising Phillips to national attention. The book also describes how he attended the very first meeting of the Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire (the future Yorkshire Geological Society) in 1837, becoming jointly with William Smith one of the Society’s firstHonorary Members. As well as a period at the Geological Survey from 1840, details of which are only superficially covered in this book, he was also President of the Geological Society in 1859-60.
Much is made of his humble background and that, despite no formal qualifications, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society and became Professor of Geology at King’s College, London, the University of Dublin and ultimately at Oxford University. Chapter 7 starts with the tragic event that led to his move to Oxford, and finishes with description of his equally tragic demise 21 years later in 1874. During his time in Oxford he was keeper of the Ashmolean Museum and initiated the much-cherished Oxford Natural History Museum. This chapter also covers Phillips’ last visit to Yorkshire, seven months before his death, on a BAAS field excursion to Victoria Cave, Settle, providing some history to the archaeological exploration and significance of the site.
The author ably describes the significance of the innovative descriptions of Yorkshire’s geology and landscape in Phillips’ key publications, providing relevant extracts and illustrations. Chapter 3 catalogues the events that led up to, and the subsequent impacts of, his 1829 “Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire- the Yorkshire Coast”. Similar scope is given in Chapter 5 to “Part II- the Mountain Limestone District” published in 1836, as well as the popular 1834 “Guide to Geology”. It was fascinating to read in Chapter 6 how Phillips pioneered the concept of railwayguidebooks, initially through his 1853 “The Rivers, Mountains and Sea Coast of Yorkshire”. This covered not only the geology and topography of the county, but also the history, natural history, and descriptions of the main towns and some of his favourite walks. The success of this publication led to his production of a cheaper, pocket-sized guidebook aimed at the burgeoning railway tourist market. Somehow, I feel this should be the inspiration for the next Michael Portillo series of “Great Railway Journeys”.
Chapter 9 explains how we should value the impact Phillips had on disseminating this knowledge within his adopted county, a legacy we continue to benefit from to this day. It lists the societies, such as our own YGS, and many Yorkshire museums, that have been touched by the works of this great man and which continue to popularise the interests he so valued. The YGS rightly celebrates his works with the awarding of the John Phillips Medal “as an acknowledgement of distinguished contributions to, or to work bearing upon knowledge of the stratigraphy or palaeontology of the north of England”.
There is a bibliography of Phillips’ important publications, but also a helpful list of sources both from Phillips’ contemporaries and more modern writings, including popular publications that put the landscape and geology described by Phillips into a modern context. Throughout the book, the author faithfully acknowledges the information sources used and takes time to acknowledge the characters of the many people who touched Phillips’ life and helped develop his career.
It is through Chapter 8 and the description of the scale of Phillips’ funeral that one fully appreciates that, by this time, he had become one of the pre-eminent Victorian scientists. This book goes a long way to reintroducing the remarkable nature of his life to a new audience. If you are interested in the history of science, particularly of one of the great contributors to the development of geology as a science, and have a love of the county of Yorkshire, I heartily recommend this book.